THE CONGRESS: Surprising Defeat

Troubling Dwight Eisenhower and many
another American at week's end was a civil rights vote as surprising as
it had been dramatic. Climaxing a legislative day that spanned 14
maneuver-packed hours, the Senate, in the minutes after a muggy
Washington midnight, agreed to tack on to Part IV the disputed
amendment guaranteeing trial by jury to any person charged with
criminal contempt.

In achieving the decision, Senate Democratic leadership skillfully
gutted the first civil rights bill to approach congressional approval
in 82 years. It was a triumphof a sortfor the strategy laid...